WASHINGTON (CNN) — An undercover officer known as “Dusty” has been appointed executive director of the CIA, making him the agency’s third highest-ranking official, a U.S. intelligence official said Friday.

Dusty’s full name will be made public after the agency has established that revealing his identity won’t compromise any classified or ongoing activities, the official said.

The undercover officer has spent 22 years with the agency, in the field overseas and at headquarters.

He has been involved in covert operations abroad and worked at the Counterterrorism Center and the Directorate of Science and Technology.

As executive director, Dusty will be responsible for the agency’s day-to-day operations and for ensuring officers have the right tools and conditions to do their jobs.

Dusty was not CIA Director Peter Goss’s first choice for the job.

Goss, a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, had initially picked Michael Kostiw, who had served as a committee staff member.

But Kostiw withdrew his name when reports surfaced that he resigned from a job at the CIA 20 years ago after he had been caught shoplifting. Kostiw remains a Goss senior adviser.

Dusty is third in line at the CIA, behind only Goss and Deputy Director John McLaughlin.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/11/05/cia.appointment/index.html